UK food shops have seen a “massive increase” in pensioners shoplifting over the past year, new data shows.

According to leading store security firm Kingdom Services Group, which works with hundreds of UK shops including supermarkets and convenience stores, there have been 20 to 30 reports of shoplifting per week concerning “people who just can’t afford to buy food”, The Guardian reported.

Kingdom Services Group director of service for retail John Nussbaum told PA Media: “We’ve seen a massive increase in pensioners shoplifting, putting a jar of coffee in their bag and one in the trolley, that sort of thing.”

He said that the higher cost of living “pushes people to something they’ve never done before”, adding that “we’re used to seeing the organised gangs, that’s the norm, but the types of people being caught now has changed.”

Subscribe to Grocery Gazette for free

Sign up here to get the latest grocery and food news each morning

Nussbaum determined that around 5% of people caught shoplifting by the firm’s employees each week were aged over 50.

“Retailers don’t tend to involve the police when they’re dealing with pensioners. It’s not good publicity for a supermarket if it got out that a pensioner had been handed over to the police for shoplifting,” he added.

Recorded shoplifting offences rose by 20% in 2024 to 516,971, marking the highest figure since current police records began in 2003, according to the latest crime report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Meanwhile, crime cost retailers £4.2bn last year. That figure includes £2.2bn in theft losses and a further £1.8bn spent on crime prevention measures, such as CCTV, additional security personnel, anti-theft devices and body worn cameras.